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http://theurbanwire.com/2014/09/digital-dawn-of-film/#commentsSat, 06 Sep 2014 14:55:36 +0000http://theurbanwire.com/?p=37545Who says local film is dead? With 4 titles to show at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Singapore is on a roll with Anthony Chen’s prestigious Caméra d’Or winner, Ilo Ilo. This gives hope to a wave of young, aspiring local filmmakers, who are eager to leave their own legacies.

Ms Aishah Abu Bakar, programme manager for The Substation, commented, “I think it definitely made a lot of people, not just overseas but in Singapore, stand up to pay a little more attention to stuff that is being produced.”

The Substation hosts First Take, a monthly programme that screens new homegrown films by amateur filmmakers. By giving them a chance to express themselves and obtain feedback from a discerning audience, it is hoped that this will sculpt their confidence in making future films.

“It was a real challenge trying to shoot something in the span of 24 hours with a given theme,” recalled Jeremy Chua, 19, a 2012 Fly By Night participant.

The competition kickstarts once Objectifs releases the theme for the year, where contestants have exactly 1 day to shoot a short 3-minute film. Following that, they all gather at a cinema for a mass screening and to witness the winners’ announcement.

Many local directors such as Kelvin Sng (The Gang) and Jacen Tan (Go Work) have propelled their careers forward via such mediums, which have been invaluable for exchanging ideas, learning from creative mistakes and getting talent spotted by local and overseas investors.

Shelly, who is currently pursuing a degree at LASALLE College of the Arts, belongs to a group of like-minded people who believe these platforms provide much needed exposure for young budding filmmakers in Singapore.

Audiences, Are You Ready?

Still, challenges abound in getting their viewer counterparts to fully embrace the emergence of homegrown films.

In an online survey of 50 youths aged 16 to 25 years old, 4 per cent of youths said ‘No’ while 52 per cent gave a lukewarm ‘Maybe’ when asked if they would support local movies. Citing the distraction of Hollywood blockbusters and A-list casts, many said they had yet to know of the true quality in their films back home.

“Creativity is, while not lacking in Singapore, is certainly not promoted enough,” lamented one respondent. “I think there are many like me who would enjoy local films but have no idea where to get exposed to them.”

Visibility remains an issue given Singapore’s tightly knit film community, which has yet to reach out actively to a wider audience about their competitions and screenings. Every gear in the machine that allows such platforms to happen comprises of people already involved in the filmmaking scene, from the organizers to participants and audience members.

Indeed, with only 16 per cent of respondents having experienced such platforms, most viewers were limited to the few local films shown in cinemas and broadcast channels.

Ms Aishah also added that people aged 14 and below may not able to attend such events due to “school restraints” or “parental restrictions”. Also, there remains strict governmental censorship placed on sensitive films like Royston Tan’s 15, which contains themes ranging from gangsterism to homosexuality.

To help young filmmakers gain visibility and alleviate restrictions faced, Mr Derek Tan and Mr Ho Jia Jian formulated Viddsee.com, an online film portal dedicated to user-submitted works from Asia.

“Everyone tells you to put your film on YouTube.com to reach a global audience, but there are tens of millions of videos on YouTube.com. It’s really hard to find good quality content if you don’t know the filmmaker’s name,” commented Mr Ho in an interview with TechCrunch.com.

Content Is King

As Yue Jie, 20, a regular contributor to entertainment publications like Popspoken and Straits Times Communities, shared, most local films still lack commercial viability due to their niche content and technicalities.

He explained, “At the moment, I believe that we are striving for the awards and not really the entertainment side. So the amount of films that go into cinema is not that much.”

Still, most respondents did express viewership promise, saying they were interested in what local films had to offer. Given they were made by fellow young Singaporeans, many said they would probably be highly relatable and refreshing in perspective.

Established in 1990, The Picturehouse was Singapore’s first alternative answer to an era of mainstream films. Despite closing down several years later, The Cathay revamped it in 2006 as a cushy 82 seater venue that showcases a multitude of exclusive local and foreign motion pictures. It is no wonder it remains one of the most popular venues for film festivals and events- part of the viewing magic is getting to bask in its historical significance.

Don’t be fooled by the whitewashed exterior of this Mount Sophia compound, for this former Methodist Girls’ School is a lighthouse for young startups dedicated to all things art. Although Old School has unfortunately closed down more or less, it still hosts Sinema Old School in partnership with Sinema.SG, whose name is a deliberate combination of ‘Singapore’ and ‘cinema’ to express its deep support for local films. From Royston Tan’s 881 to Eric Khoo’s 12 Storeys, you will find a host of famous movies in this 136-seater with powerful messages that will hit home.

Although much more cramped, this humble 75-seater theater room is a silver screen treasure, having once held late 20th Century offices in Parliament Lane. Now, it is a well-established venue that boasts film series such as But Is The Book Better? and festivals like the Singapore Chinese Film Festival, all in the old world charm of a colonial building.

Surprise, surprise- in the heart of bustling Vivocity, there actually lies Cinema Europa, an extension of Golden Village that celebrates the finest local and international art house and indie films all year round. From exclusive local flicks to lesser known Asian titles, there’s no reason to miss out on this luxurious 108 seater-theater that comes with a state-of-the-art digital surround sound system.

Looking for an even more exclusive hideout? Choose The Substation Theater, which is still one of the best curators of independent films in our nation. The 108-seater is not content with just motion pictures alone, it’s a versatile black box space that hosts performance dialogues and music performances- all in its dedication to promoting diversity in interdisciplinary art in Singapore.

Local artistes and bands took to the stage without missing a beat, and within the first few seconds, they got audiences wrapped around their fingers, just like the microphone in their clammy palms and the guitar pick in their blistered fingers.

Students skittering through the atrium to their next class with crammed bag packs and hefty laptop cases dwindle to slower paces, as they caught sight of the unusual affair, and came to a halt before the unostentatious show right before them, known as m:idea Mania 2014, a fruit-themed lunchtime concert held on Jul 18 in Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

Organized by Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s (NP) youth-led media group, the concert consisted of a groovy local artist line-up, with games and prizes between the acts.

m:idea, established since 2009, comprises of media platforms such as campus newspaper npTribune, entertainment and lifestyle magazine HYPE, campus radio station Radio Heatwave, campus television station CTV and theurbanwire.com, an entertainment and lifestyle e-zine.

“The purpose of the event is to promote m:idea, because we realized that even some of our own NP students might not know about the media assets that we have, [and some] do not know m:idea as a business that works with external clients,” explained Shariel Ng, 21, an account manager in m:idea who helped to put the event together.

Deon, 26, opened the show with “Time’s The Only Constant”, garnering attention with his tranquillizing voice that chorused in harmony with the backing guitar acoustics.

The singer-songwriter’s new album Antiphobic debuted to critical success (TODAYOnline gave 4 out of 5 stars), which the previous Flybar drummer of 10 years verified his musical merit as “an artist in his own right” before the lunch crowd.

Joel Tan a.k.a. Gentle Bones, 20, lured in a sizeable mob of fans as he took the stage with his self-composed melodies, cover mash-ups, and a basic guitar.

“I’ve always been doing this out of pure fun, and as a hobby. After a while, because of how well Gentle Bones has been doing, the dream that I always had locked up in the back of my head of being a full-time musician is slowly starting to surface,” shared Joel.

He also cited his leading influences as English singer-songwriters Ed Sheeran and Ben Howard. The independent teen musician wrapped up his session with his debut track, “Until We Die”, as the microphone was passed over to the audiences to spur on their heart-warming sing-along.

Stopgap demonstrated their group charisma in the next performance. Interestingly enough, 3 of the members in their 20’s – vocalist Adin Kindermann, and guitarists Grayson Seah and Calvin Phua – were NP alumni.

“NP was where we started, so it’s cool to see how everything has changed,” admitted Grayson.

Band Origins

Bands like Morning Martians and ORANGECOVE stole the spotlight with their pop punk tunes, cementing how there was never going to be a dull moment in this afternoon stint.

Furthermore, UrbanWire found out that both these quad-rats had endearing tales behind the origins of their band names.

“I tweeted one day, ‘Good morning, Earthlings’, and a friend replied ‘Good morning, Martians’, and I thought, ‘Why not we just take this as a band name?’ It was very random,” chuckled the frontman of Morning Martians, Iskandar Mazlan, 18.

ORANGECOVE also displayed their penchant for creativity by deriving their label from a fusion of the popular American television series The OC, and the members’ love for sunsets and the bay area.

Clean Eating Made Fun

Games during the event took the form of unglamorous healthy snacking, which included the “Chunky Monkey” and “Lemon Eating Contest”.

“Chunky Monkey” was a spin-off from “Chubby Bunny”, whereby participants gorged on bananas instead of marshmallows, and the 2nd game required players to scarf down as many sour fruits as humanly possible.

During both games, participants attempted to clearly communicate the media properties after each bite such as UrbanWire, or rather, “UrwenWayer”. The person who managed to finish the most amount of fruits within the given time limit without fouling up the names emerged as the winner.

In addition, a mystery lucky draw called on participants to reach into opaque boxes to guess fruits inside – kiwi, rambutan, and dragon fruit – according to their textures. No surprises some squeamish participants squealed upon reaching into the boxes.

m:idea put the capital M in music and mania, as the audience was treated to a rollicking good time of music, fun and games. It was in short, a fruity affair.

Now a half-human, half-vampire (Dhampir) and a mortal vampire (Moroi) are set to please in Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters, which will be released in Singapore on Feb 13, a day before Valentines’ Day.

Based on best-selling book series by Richelle Mead, which has sold over 9 million copies, this filmrevolves around the Dhampir vampire, Rose Hathaway (Zoey Deutch), who is training to protect the Moroi vampire princess, Lissa Dragomir (Lucy Fry).

Credit: comingsoon.net/films

The best friends ran away from St. Vladimir’s Academy but was dragged back by guardian Dimitri Belikov (Danila Kozlovsky) who began mentoring Rose whenhe saw that the close bond between the two girls would make Rose the perfect guardian to Lissa. As they struggle with the brutal hierarchy of the Academy, a darker force unfolds beyond the walls – the Strigoi, undead vampires that attack them.

With just the right balance of sass, heated romance and high-school drama, director of Mean Girls (2004), Mark Waters, with screenplay by Daniel Waters, may just be able to pull in moviegoers into this great blood-sucking adventure.

Obsessed with the film Queen of the Damned, Allan Menzies created an alter-ego vampire, Vamp, who apparently made a pact with Queen Akasha. With the notion that she wanted him to kill someone in order to become a vampire himself, Allan stabbed his friend 42 times, beat him with a hammer, consumed his blood and ate part of his brain. He was sentenced to a minimum of 18 years in jail and declared as a dangerous psychopath.

Author of From Demons to Dracula and archaeologist Matthew Beresford, pointed out that in Ancient Egypt, vampires were brought into the world through sorcery. On the contrary, author of Vampires, Burial and Death, Paul Barber theorized that the deceased who “returned from the dead” could be distinguished from birth. Abnormalities for babies born with teeth or an extra nipple were regarded as bad omens. Hence, these newborns were either killed or viewed with suspicion when they got older.

Whether vampires do exist or not, history has shown that some truly believe in the reality of vampires, while others relied on such cases to come to a conclusion. Though there isn’t a concluded answer and Hollywood continues to play on the plot twist of these creatures, one thing’s for sure: there’s more to unravel and piques at the inquisitive nature of not only scholars and researchers, but ours as well.

Clearly unaccustomed to Singapore’s humidity but still insistent on looking dashingly stylish, Ben Blondel sweats profusely while donned in a vintage Levis denim jacket and skinny chinos. More popularly known under his moniker of Death and A Cure, and his position as keyboardist-cum-vocalist in Australian post-hardcore band, In League, the meek young lad is spotted inspecting the fun fact written on the flipside of his peach Snapple’s bottle cap with an unexpected childlike eagerness in his expression.

Ben recalls, “It was in 2008, when I wrote my first five songs and I decided that I should make an EP (extended play) since my music garnered pretty good responses and people enjoyed it as much as I did writing them. And who would have known that In League would hit me up soon after on Myspace while I was doing my solo thing. Everything just looked up from then on.”

It is indeed hard to imagine how Ben Blondel manages to juggle both his commitments. Playing two completely varying genres of music, the differences in both projects are vast for the Australian singer-songwriter. However, he certainly enjoys the experience and exposure, such as his debut Singaporean tour that happened from May 2 to May 6, at venues like Homeclub and The Pigeonhole Café.

“With In League, I could jump around and onto the audiences during our live sets, but I can’t do that at my own shows cause people would get angry. But it’s also really amazing because I can play intimate gigs and share a lot more of who I really am through my songs at a personal level. As far as writing goes, writing for In League is tougher as there’s more people putting down different ideas,” Ben explains.

Drawing inspiration from the tranquil splendor of nature and social issues occurring around the globe, Ben’s debut full-length “Oceans, Lovers and Empires”, released earlier this year in May, is an amalgamation of his sincere emotions and thoughts.

The songster proceeds to explain, “The album’s a summary of the last three years of my life. I don’t really talk about it but the meaning behind the name, Death and A Cure, is how I desire to seek a cure for the many things that are so wrong in the world. The name also sounds a little provocative because many would think it’s a metal band, since it has ‘death’ in it but when they take a listen, they’re shocked because they get really mellow music that contrasts the name.”

Like any other man in his twenties, Ben has his hefty share of relationship problems and life’s never-ending difficulties that have changed him. Embracing these sentiments, he channels his feelings towards a healthy avenue, that is, his music.

“A lot of my songs are quite melancholic, and often talk about the crappier things in life. As morbid as it sounds, that’s where I usually get my inspiration from. It’s not that I’ve had a super tough life but I find that people are able to connect with these things. Like how one loves but is never being loved back,” chuckles Ben like a bashful lad.

Listing the popular Japanese anime “Naruto” as one his interests on the Death and A Cure Facebook page, Ben is more than just the farouche musician he appears to be. With quirky interests that might surprise his fans, the singer feels that he has too little time to do the many things he wishes to.

Photos Courtesy of Ryan Chang.

“I’m part of a community of people that discuss about religion and philosophies, while trying to solve the world’s problems, bettering ourselves and working hard to make the world a better place. It’s definitely not something a lot of people my age do during their free time. But one thing that I can be really sure of, is that I will always be playing music,” Ben shares with HYPE.

Apart from that, writing new music and experimenting new things with his music are on Ben’s to-do list.

“I’m hoping to create a live DVD with live footages and songs off my album so I can finally take down all the dodgy iPhone vidoes off my Youtube account and have something substantial.”

It’s a blistering Saturday afternoon, and with all their gear all sprucely set up, the blokes of Singaporean post-progressive rock band, ANECHOIS, are spotted in a focused discussion of their setlist while patiently awaiting their turn for their soundcheck before their performance at Homeclub.

“Baybeats is like the biggest stage you can play here in Singapore and it has been a long time dream of ours even before this band started. I mean we’ve all been there over the years watching other bands we love. It’s like a dream we never thought could come true,” says Justin Koh, 24, guitarist.

Having impressed the panel of judges at the Baybeats 2012 auditions, the aspiring outfit has managed to clinch the long-anticipated opportunity to perform at the esteemed festival. Resonating wispy vocals against a backdrop of multiple dreamlike guitar riffs, and forcefully rhythmic and complex basslines contribute to the band’s distinctive sound.

“Sasha Grey! (American pornographic actress) No, don’t put that down! If I had to describe our music as a person, this person would be humble, exceptionally emotional most of the time, and not afraid to express himself,” Dale Roswald, 24, bassist, shares.

Photos courtesy of ANECHOIS and Danny Widodo for Baybeats 2012.

Though the group may appear a tad bit goofy with their eccentric wisecracks at first glance, you wouldn’t have thought that the boys of ANECHOIS were remotely close. However, it turns out that Justin Koh, Dale Roswald, vocalist Muhd Haziq, keyboardist Firdhauz Asyraft, and drummer Fadli Salim, treasure their close-knit relationship more than anything else.

“Friendship and the desire to make great music motivates us to do what we do. It’s also where most of our inspiration comes from, apart from our individual fantasies. And with Baybeats, it just gives us that added drive and boost too,” Dale tells HYPE.

Like any other local band, the band also faces numerous challenges in the Singaporean music scene.

“Money is definitely the biggest problem since we plan to tour and record in the near future. Considering that we have day jobs too, it’s pretty tough to juggle both music and our daily work,” Firdhauz shares.

“Well, as you grow up, it’s not conducive to be a musician here. People, and maybe even your family and close friends, have the perception that you cannot make a living out of playing music. They will bring you down and unfortunately it does affect us sometimes,” laments Dale.

“But we’re definitely not in it for the money, it’s more for the passion that we have and the sense of self-fulfillment that we’ll achieve,” Justin adds.

The band feels that Baybeats has certainly helped to foster the Singapore local music scene and are thrilled to have graced the festival’s Arena stage on Jun 30.

“It brings a lot of people together, that’s the most important thing it’s not what they actually do there and what the festival’s programmes are but it just gives you that platform for brilliant ideas and people to showcase their talents. And besides, we officially met during last year’s Baybeats too.”

Insouciant and clearly laid-back, the lads of MY DISCO are slumped onto a snug couch in the restful interior of Homeclub as vocalist-cum-bassist, Liam Andrews, leans forward idly to lift his mug of chilled Tiger beer to his mouth.

He licks his lips and recalls, “It has got to be the teh tarik, it’s such an oddly interesting and refreshing beverage that we would look forward to having plenty of in Singapore, since we could never find it back in Australia.”

Having performed in Singapore in January last year, MY DISCO has travelled miles to grace our shores once again, in conjunction with the release of their latest record ‘Little Joy’, and part of their 2012 Australian/Asian tour.

Though they may appear nonchalant at times, the group are aficionados at what they do, evident from their dynamic performances. The blasé mannerisms of Liam and his brother, guitarist Ben Andrews, are reflected in the minimalist music that the band conjures. It is no wonder the band feels strongly towards the adage “less is more”.

“It’s a good saying in many aspects of life because some people simply talk too much and they get annoying, considering they tend to not translate their words into actions, which is pretty thwarting,” Ben tells HYPE as he pets his fleecy beard casually.

Sparse yet dystopian vocals and droningly repetitive guitar riffs comprise the trio’s bizarrely hypnotic yet gripping sound. Their cathartic live sets see them attacking their instruments ferociously, evoking sounds minimal enough to settle within listeners gradually, yet complex enough to quiver dust wherever it lands. However, for the band to get to where they are presently, was certainly not a simple feat.

Taking another sip from his ice cold brew, Liam shares, “We’ve been a band for almost 10 years, and I feel that with each record we put out, it evolves into something new that we’ve never planned for but something that just naturally occurs to us.”

“Besides, with all that extensive touring over the years, we hardly have girlfriends or places to live in,” Ben adds.

Having a sibling in the band has its benefits. “There’s always someone I can count on and trust when we’re on stage and on tour, I mean we’ve been playing music for more than 20 years,” expresses Liam.

Rohan interrupts the awkwardly adorable brotherly moment, “I mean even if they do detest each other, they’d still have to go to family dinners together!”

Photos courtesy of MY DISCO and KittyWu Records.

On top of music and performing, as well as their bartender day-jobs, the outfit still harbours goals that they wish to achieve for themselves.

“Ever since we started the band, we’ve always wanted to travel all over the world to play to different people, and along the way, I’ve decided I’d like to learn more languages and become multilingual,” Liam says.

Liam kids that we can all expect new material from the band once they’ve had enough teh tarik here in Singapore.

“It’s something a bit different but you can be sure that it’s definitely something new, and it’ll come as a pleasant surprise.”